It has been recognized that there is extensive pollution of groundwater throughout the United States. This contamination has many sources, such as industrial waste, agricultural chemical leachates, acid rain, and roadway runoff. Thus, it is generally believed that the water provided by many wells and municipal water systems is contaminated. As a result of this belief, many businesses, schools and homes utilize bottled water for drinking and cooking. Reliance upon bottled water as a source of potable water is, however, misplaced. Despite attractive labeling, 70 percent of the bottled water in the U.S. is actually obtained from municipal sources and reprocessed. Since the standards for bottled water are no more stringent and no more rigorously enforced than those for tap water, there is no assurance that bottled water is any more free from contamination than tap water. Bottled water is usually produced by exposing source water to high temperatures, thus allowing most impurities to boil or evaporate off. See, "Bottled Water--Not What You Think", CBE Environmental Review, March/April 1984.
In some instances the production of bottled water involves filtration processes. These typically remove only the some particulate matter--a large quantity of contaminates remain. Furthermore, the filtration processes does not destroy bacteria; in fact, during the sometimes extensive period after filtration and before consumption, the bacterial content of bottled water actually increases. Because it is known that bottled water contains contaminates and bacteria, some state and governmental authorities are considering regulations which require a label be affixed to bottled water which would advise the consumer that it is merely filtered tap water. See, e.g., "Bottled Water and Vended Water: Are Consumers Getting Their Money's Worth?", Assembly, California Legislature, Assembly Office of Research 061-A (1985).
Bottled water is also very expensive. Studies have suggested that bottled water may be 1000 times more expensive than water delivered from the tap. See "Bottled Water and Vended Water", referenced above. This extraordinary increase arises form the expenses associated with filtration, bottling, and storage, delivery and retrieval of the bottles themselves. The disadvantages of bottled water have been recognized by others. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,688,950--Parish provides a device which allows a lightweight collapsible bag to be used to replace the bottle portion of a typical bottled water dispenser.
Despite these obvious shortcomings, many consumers prefer bottled water and utilize a bottled water dispenser. Bottled water dispensers include a refrigeration system for chilling the bottled water and frequently include a heater which allows hot water to be dispensed as well. Typical bottled water dispensers do not include drains and are not connected to a source of water, such as an inlet from a municipal water system, since the bottle acts as a water source.
Many types of filtration apparatus are known, for example, granular charcoal filters, silver-granular charcoal filters, ion exchange systems, distillation apparatus, and reverse osmosis equipment. Although each of these filters, in certain embodiments, may provide water of a higher purity than bottled water, each suffers from certain limitations. See, Purus, Ltd., P.O. Box 175, Avoca, Pa. 18641, informational brochure (1988). It has been found that a filter utilizing a solid carbon block filter substantially improves the quality of filtered water, compared with other filters. This improvement is due largely to the unfiltered water being forced through the sub-micron pores of the carbon compound. The water is thus strained to remove sub-micron sized particles, a substantial improvement over, for example, granulated charcoal media. A carbon block filter cartridge may also comprise other filter stages such as a cotton cellulose stage or an activated carbon/cellulose/polyethylene stage, which to remove larger particles, colloids, bacteria and other pollutants before the carbon block filter is reached. A filter combining these stages has been shown to be a more effective than those listed above, and accordingly, provides water which is of a much higher purity than the average bottled water source. See, Purus Ltd., technical data handbook.
Previously, efforts have been largely concentrated on providing "stand alone" apparatus for chilling and dispensing water from a continuous source such as a well or a municipal system. In some instances a filter of some type to purify the water is also provided. Examples of such devices are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,022,164--Sweetland (porcelain filter element); 2,623,367--Morrison (charcoal filter); 3,456,803--Rak (reverse osmosis filter unit); 3,982,406--Hanson (activated granular charcoal); 4,207,994--Offlee (zeolite exchange unit); 4,599,166--Gesslauer (ozone filter).
In fact, patents issued in the last few years demonstrate that a need continues to exist for an independent system capable of dispensing chilled and purified water, as seen for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,953--Caruso. Although Caruso recognizes and attempts to solve the problems associated with unwieldy water bottles, the solution offered involves an entirely new piece of equipment. (see col. 1, lines 24-35). However, as pointed out by Parish, it would be desirable to provide an alternative to water bottles without disturbing the capital investment bottled water dispenser owners have made in their machines. (see col. 1, lines 1-46). Accordingly, it can be seen that there exists a long felt, yet unsolved need for a system which provides chilled, purified drinking water for use by businesses and other applications, preferably eliminating the need to buy bottled water, but retaining a viable use for the hundreds of thousands of existing bottled water dispensing units.